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Newcomers Fulham and Wolves are attracting talent like Seri and Patricio respectively. There's 6 genuine super teams, clubs like Leicester and Everton also looking real good.
I think the top 6 teams whilst being comfortable over 7th place, will drop a lot more points this season vs lower half teams.
Super teams? The same super teams who fail in Europe year after year.
I think it's fair to say that the 17/18 Premier League was recognised as one of the weaker ones since it's inception a quarter of a century ago, I see no reason really why it'll go from that to the strongest one ever in the course of a few months.Quote:
Originally Posted by Forgotmyoldaccount
I think it's fair to say that the three bottom teams have been replaced by at least 2 better teams ( on paper ).
West Ham look a better side.
S'hamption, Huddersfield, Brighton, Watford, B'mouth & Palace of the other bottom half teams don't seem to have done much in the summer.
So I agree - it's a bit better, but not the strongest ever.
I think the gap between the top six is getting bigger, which means there's fewer points to scrap for.
We just need to make sure we finish ahead of 3 other teams this season after that try to improve every year
We get this all the time. when we do well in the Championship its because "It's the weakest ever" then when we are up we are definitely going to get relegated (implied) because all the other teams are so much stronger than last years teams.
time to remember we finished ahead of Fulham and beat wolves at the own ground. If they are better than the bottom 6 in the Prem then why shouldn't we be?
People are always so so negative!!
Seeing the transfers recently for the other two sides that came up plus what West ham have spent and comparing to us I have thought that we are going to struggle and I don't mind that - I am much happier that we are moving towards being debt free.Quote:
Originally Posted by xsnaggle
However what has struck me is the figures being paid for players, some I have never heard of and the ones I have heard of I would say I don't know if there any good and whilst I am not a football geek and not the other end either if being completely ignorant, I wonder how much of gamble some of these big purchases are. Wolves as well from what I have seen apart from the Portuguese keeper have spent their money keeping last year's side together
Anyway I'm happy with our business would like another striker but can't wait for this season like every other
One reason for its strength this coming season is that we’re in it😜Quote:
Originally Posted by the other bob wilson
Wolves could easily be another Aston Villa in a couple of years.
I'm confident we won't be in a similar position.
The only change in the PL is more money and that we are back.
I would say the divide since our last promotion is greater and we have more teams to compete at our level.
With the 3 teams who got promoted previously staying up. In addition to 3 new teams from the championship , id say it’s the weakest for a long time.
I thought the rules are that next year is always the strongest ever - in any league - until the end of the season when it becomes the weakest in living memory!
The jacks aren't in it, whereas we are.Quote:
Originally Posted by the other bob wilson
Only the top 6 are immune from relegation due to their massive money, the other 14 including us are fighting not to be relegated. We will have the 10th largest crowds in the Premiership so let’s stay ahead of these smaller clubs like Wolves and Fulham!
Huh? England was the best performing nation in Europe last season according to the UEFA coefficient score, with all five Champions League teams making it through the group stage to the round of 16, losing a total of just three out of 30 games. Arsenal did likewise in the Europa League, making the semi-final. Spending across the board was the highest it's ever been, with even Championship-Wolves signing one of Porto's star players for over £15m.Quote:
Originally Posted by the other bob wilson
All that proves is that there was a bit of quality among the top sides and a lot of money was wasted building mediocre teams from about eighth downwards.Quote:
Originally Posted by Broken Machine
Rather than a strong EPL, I'd prefer a more skillful league.
Last season, so many teams adopted a 'close-em-down-quickly' strategy that strangled the life out of many games.
One day the penny will drop that the way to combat this is to get the ball forward as quickly as possible and play attractive football in and around the opposing penalty area. Oddly, this seemed to be a major part of England's tactical approach in the WC - and I'm betting this has not gone unnoticed by Warlock.
This. That is all.Quote:
Originally Posted by billy.ronson
All that spending money proves is that they wasted money? Again, huh?Quote:
Originally Posted by the other bob wilson
I can give you chapter and verse about wasted money. Step forward Huw 'Gonzo' Jenkins.Quote:
Originally Posted by Broken Machine
:popcorn:
Yes, for the "quality" it brought them there was an awful lot of money wasted and teams like Stoke, Swansea, Southampton, Watford, West Ham, Bournemouth and Everton really weren't very good when you consider how much they spent.Quote:
Originally Posted by Broken Machine
Right, but then you can always pick a few teams near the bottom of the table and say they weren't really good, particularly if you pick two of the relegated sides also. But, for a bit of perspective, have a flick through the squads of the Premier League sides ten years ago. 2007/08 saw a Sunderland team fielded a 36-year Dwight Yorke, Fulham's number 9 was David Healey and Middlesbrough were relying on Jérémie Aliadière. If you were to de-age those players ten years and dump them back into English football, I'd imagine they'd end up at some mid-table Championship teams like Preston or Bristol City, not surviving in the Premier League in the days when Fulham can spunk £25m on a French player from Nice without breaking a sweat.Quote:
Originally Posted by the other bob wilson
And sure, you could try to argue that those three players are actually good, and we could be here all night because that is subjective, or that they were cherry-picked, or list some players you think were iffy from last season's squads. Fine, whatever. But what I really wanna know is, if you genuinely believe that half the Premier League ten years ago could sign better players from across the world with half the money spent today... how did they do it? And how can we copy them?
But really I think football fans nearly always say a league is the weakest or strongest ever. They love 'em some superlatives.
I would argue that we're getting into the realms of looking at the squad list for clubs and making judgments on what their potential is rather than judging them by what happens out on the pitch. To use Stoke as an example, I don't think there were many tipping them to go down this time last year - I certainly wasn't, but then you start hearing about how some of their squad were training with the kids and you begin to wonder.
Xherdan Shaqiri was always going to be snapped up by big team after Stoke's relegation, but I heard criticisms of his attitude in club football last season from pundits at the World Cup and I can understand where they were coming from. I said on here with a few weeks of the season left that Shakiri was the sort of player who'll get you relegated, which was probably harsh, but what I meant was that if your season develops into a relegation scrap, whereas some players with the same amount of talent as Shakiri may be able to turn your season around, I've never felt he would.
For me there seemed more players with big price tags who didn't punch their weight when things were going wrong for their teams in last season's Premier League than normal. Teams in the bottom half of the table (and one or two in the top half) had a habit of caving in when things were going against them and, if that continues to happen in 18/19, then I'd be pretty confident about us staying up, I can't stand the analogy about who would you want alongside you in the trenches when applied to football, but I can understand why Neil Warnock says it about last season's squad and I'm not sure too many Premier League managers whose sides finished from eighth downwards could have said that about their squads in 17/18..